After having trained as a cabinet-maker in his father’s workshop, Romney moved to London around 1762 where he began his career as a painter. Ten years later, on 20 March 1773, the artist abandoned the practice and moved to Rome where he became acquainted with the artists Nicolai Abraham Abildgaard, Johan Tobias Sergel, Thomas Banks, Nathaniel Marchant, Joseph Wright of Derby and John Browne, with whom he shared both formal and thematic affinities. They developed a highly charged drawing style based on the human figure, characterized by simplified forms, histrionic gesture and broadly applied wash. At the same time Romney made careful studies after the nude, the Antique and the Old Masters, in particular Michelangelo and Raphael. He then went back to England on 1 July 1775. This double-sided drawing may have been executed in the late 1770s or early 1780s after his return to England. The subject, yet unidentified, could relate to one of Shakespeare’s plays, his most consistent source of inspiration over the course of his long career. The position of the two figures on the recto recalls those of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth who appears on some of the drawings in The Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, DC (‘Designs from Fancy’: George Romney’s Shakespearean drawings, exh. cat. by Y. Romney Dixon, Washington, 1998, pp. 66-67). It was in the late 1770s, that Romney formed a small club with some of his friends that was called The Unincreasables; they attended theatre together and met regularly to dine, discuss theatrical events and reading plays. It was then that Romney began to paint Emma Hamilton in a variety of Shakespearean roles. After the launch of the Boydell Shakespeare Gallery in 1786, Romney became involved with the decoration of the gallery and executed a series of paintings for it; the compositions became widely known through prints that reproduced them. This sheet formerly belonged to Sir Robert Witt as indicated by the label on its verso. The size of the sheet, its binding marks and width of chain lines, suggests that it came from the sketchbook D.1952.RW.1848, and that it may have been placed between pages 7 and 8.

Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952); given by him to Anna Appleton Barretto, California (1891-1978), August 1929; by descent to her niece; by decent to her daughter, Helen Talbot Baker, Oregon, USA; her gift to The Courtauld, 2018

Watermark: Watermark: Verso, left centre edge: tops of letters, most likely “JW” (matches Heawood 3114, which has “no notes”).

Label: partially adhered to Verso, lower left corner, brown ink, hand of former owner, Anna Appleton Barretto: “Page torn from / Romney’s sketch-book / and given to me by / Sir Robert Witt / August, 1929 – A H B.” [the middle initial is definitely an ‘H’ and not an ‘A’ - ?].

Collector's mark: none.